Web-based applications for business are finally arriving. Bookkeeping, billing, payroll and similar services are being well-recieved by virus-weary small businesses and start-ups
FAIR OAKS, CA (PRWEB) August 1, 2004 -- After all the hype and promises online business applications are finally making an appearance, much to the delight of virus-weary businesses.
In response to the recent storm of computer worms and viruses, businesses are moving some of their mission-critical functions to outside servers and accessing the applications via the web... thus the name 'webware'. In place of security-challenged and difficult-to-install desktop software packages, companies now have a choice of on-line services that they can subscribe to for a monthly fee.
Webware was first made popular by the Internet stock brokers like Ameritrade. The concept spread to banking, then to payroll services like PayCycle (www.paycycle.com ) and now to the back-office environment. Back-office functions like order-entry, billing, reporting, and accounting can be done online with services like JAYA123 (http://www.jaya123.com ).
While desktop programs like Great Plains Accounting won't disappear, many small and medium size business are switching to webware.
The advantages of webware are several. First, there is no capital outlay. Second, there are no install issues. Third, access can be made anywhere in the world. Fourth, since all data is on the vendor's server, backup is done by the system. Finally, any computer or software platform can be used, as long as it has a browser.
Webware is popular with users having non-Intel hardware or a mix of platforms: Macintosh and Linux along with Windows. Mayapriya Long, a book designer in Charlottesville, VA (www.bookwrights.com) is a typical webware user. "When we switched to the Macintosh G5 with OS-X, we had to buy and install new versions of some software important to our business. Fortunately, since our billing and accounting was done via the web with JAYA123, we didn't have to worry about upgrades or compatibility. We just logged right back on with our new computers and started billing the same afternoon."
When asked about security, webware providers answer that a well maintained, locked-down server running a well-engineered web-service is more secure than the office network.
Webware vendors also point out that most servers have a better record of continuous service (called 'uptime') than office desktop computers.
Small companies with remote offices, like Silverback Books in San Francisco (www.silverbackbooks.com ), find web services attractive. "We have a few JAYA123 'read only' logins that we give to our remote sites and salespeople to view data, but not change it," says company president Peter Dombrowski. "Large firms have expensive virtual private networks to accomplish this. The small business sector now has the same advantage... by using the web as the network."
Another feature of webware that service providers point to is that most employees know how to use a browser. Web-based applications are said to be more intuitive, lowering the learning curve.
While some webware services are expensive, many are less than $20 a month: an advantage for the start-up or home-based business.
"Small businesses have been fighting with their back-office software for twenty years now," says Alan Canton, President of Adams-Blake Company, Inc., the provider of JAYA123. "With webware, it finally gets easier."
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